Sunday, 14 February 2016

Malaysian police reported to have smashed major drug syndicates
masterminded by Nigerians and Iranians, with the arrests of 1,280
suspects over six years.They said some 30 drug gangs from the two
dominant nationalities were broken up between 2010 and last year, with
45 drug lords nabbed.

"Most of these syndicates have since fled to their own countries while
some remnants have resorted to setting up bases in neighbouring
countries,"

The criminals were caught, he said, through intensive intelligence
gathering and cooperation with law-enforcement agencies in the region,
including China's National Narcotics Control Commission.

The gangs had imported 385kg of methamphetamines, 368kg of cocaine
and 39.5kg of heroin in the last seven years. These were mainly from
Brazil, Venezuela, Afghanistan and China.
The 2015 US International Narcotics Control Strategy Report said
Nigerian and Iranian drug trafficking groups use Malaysia as a
trafficking hub to supply both domestic and regional markets. Nigerians
are known to use commercial courier services such as air cargo and
container ships to transport methamphetamines and heroin into and out of
Malaysia. Some of the imported heroin was found in high-heeled shoes
while methamphetamine was transported in hair and body spray canisters.

In their heyday, the drug traffickers splurged on luxury apartments and
expensive cars. "They were not afraid to flaunt their wealth," Mr
Mokhtar said. The NCID did not respond yesterday to queries to confirm
details of the interview.
News of the police success was given the thumbs-up in Malaysia, a
country that hosts hundreds of thousands of foreigners who enter using
students visas that were sometimes abused. Of the 798 Nigerians
arrested, 426 had entered the country as private university students.

Police also nabbed 482 Iranians in breaking up the drug gangs, but
did not give a breakdown on how many came in using student visas. The
student-visa loophole has to be addressed by the government by carefully
examining the entry requirements and visa processing, said Professor
Tam Cai Lian, senior psychology lecturer at Monash University Malaysia.

"Most of the established universities have made attendance
of foreign students compulsory for at least 75 per cent of a semester.
Rules and regulations for the release of visa should be more rigid,
reliable and vetted by authorised parties before students are on board,"
he said.

Statistics from the National Anti-Drugs Agency showed an increase from
10,301 new drug users recorded in 2012 to 13,481 in 2013 and 13,605 in
2014. These numbers, however, were markedly lower compared with the
17,238 new drug users recorded in 2010.

Mr Mokhtar has mooted the idea of a special court for prosecuting drug
cases to expedite police work. Citing the success of the night court set
up in Johor Baru in 2010 to handle wayside robbery cases, he said a
similar model could allow for swifter proceedings in narcotics cases.

Tyson Fury says he has been to a meeting in London regarding his next fight

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury says fight fans can expect some 'massive news' about his next bout soon.

And the 27-year-old has hinted that he will be squaring off against a surprise opponent.
Fury captured the WBA, WBO and IBF titles (but was subsequently
stripped of the IBF belt) when he out-pointed Wladimir Klitschko in
Dusseldorf last November.
And it was subsequently announced
that the pair would square off again this year, Klitschko having
exercised a rematch clause in his contract.

A bout between Fury and Anthony Joshua would be a mouth-watering prospect

However,
Fury tweeted on Saturday evening: "Some massive news coming soon, had
to come to London for an urgent meeting about a massive fight, TBA very
soon, u will not believe who!!!!!!"
He has recently
revealed he might not even box again and is still waiting to find out
when and where the rematch with Klitschko will take place, so his
meeting in London could well clear that up.
It is hard to try and guess who else Fury will fight other than Klitschko.
The WBC world champion Deontay Wilder has said he wants to fight him in the UK but looks set to face mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin first, while Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn has been in talks with IBF holder Charles Martin's team about an April 9 clash at The O2, London.
Former
WBA heavyweight champion David Haye will fight again in May but has
pulled out of two proposed fights due to injury in the past, and Fury
has said they will never meet in the ring.
Current WBA World
champion Ruslan Chagaev is fighting challenger Lucas Brown in Grozny,
Russia on March 5, while interim champion Luis Ortiz is taking on Tony
Thompson in Washington, America, on the same night.
Fury has
admitted belts are not important to him after replacing Klitschko as the
world's No 1 but New Zealand's Joseph Parker is ranked second behind
him by the WBO and fought three weeks ago, knocking out Jason Bergman to
move 18-0-KO16.

N'golo Kante has been one of Leicester's many star performers this season

Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger says he has been aware of the quality of Leicester's N'Golo Kante
for a long time and even went to watch the midfielder as a youngster.

However, Wenger did not sign the 24-year-old Frenchman and
they will be on opposite sides in Sunday's massive Premier League
showdown at the Emirates.
Having gone on a superb run towards the end of last season to power
clear of the relegation zone, surprise packages Leicester have now
pulled five points clear at the top of the table this season.
Arsenal
have a chance to trim that deficit on Sunday but they will need to find
a way to win the midfield battle against Kante, who has been to the
fore all season for the Foxes.
"Kante is a huge force in their team," said Wenger. "Of course I know him.
"You look at his career and you will be amazed. Because he played in Suresnes in Paris at the age of nine, 10 years old.
"After, he went to Boulogne as an amateur. They didn't want to sign him pro.
"After,
he went to Caen, and then he came finally to England. But, everywhere
he has been, he has always adapted to the level where he was.
"One of my best friends in life knows him since he was 10 years old, and he spoke to me about him.
"We went to watch him and we saw he had quality, but I didn't know he would come so quickly to England."

Leicester only had to pay £400,000 for Riyad Mahrez

While
Wenger has long been aware of Kante, he concedes that he was not
acquainted with another Leicester star, Riyad Mahrez, who was signed for
a mere £400,000.
"I didn't know him," said Wenger.
"He
played in the second division in France, so they did extremely well. He
has developed very well and today he is one of the dominant players in
the Premier League.
"You are disappointed [to miss out on
signing such players], yes, but on the other hand that happens to every
club and we have to accept that. Every club faces these kind of things."
Asked if Mahrez was one of the greatest bargains ever, Wenger added: "Yes, but today we live in a strange society.
"You
give me that example but if I sign a player for £400,000, before he
plays, people will say 'what is that? That is not serious for Arsenal'.
You have to accept it.
"If you say we signed a player for £40m, they will think he is really good."

Substitute Danny Welbeck scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as
Arsenal resurrected their Premier League title challenge with a
heart-stopping 2-1 Valentine’s Day victory over leaders Leicester City
on Sunday.
Down to 10 men following Danny Simpson’s 54th-minute dismissal,
Leicester were clinging on at a tension-bound Emirates Stadium when
Welbeck headed in a 95th-minute winner from Mesut Ozil’s free-kick on
his return after 10 months out with a serious knee injury.
The England striker’s goal lifted Arsenal to within two points of
Leicester and also gave hope to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City,
five and six points off the pace respectively, ahead of their meeting at
the Etihad Stadium later in the day.
Welbeck’s goal, after fellow substitute Theo Walcott had cancelled
out Jamie Vardy’s first-half penalty, saw Arsene Wenger’s men complete a
league double over Leicester following their 5-2 win in September.
Claudio Ranieri’s men now have two weeks to regain their strength
before resuming their improbable title bid at home to Norwich City,
while Arsenal must prepare for contests with Hull City and Barcelona.
Manchester City never recovered from falling behind to Leicester in
their 3-1 defeat last weekend and Arsenal seemed determined to avoid the
same fate, quickly pushing the visitors onto the back foot.
With less than two minutes gone, Alexis Sanchez threw himself at Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s corner and headed wide, with N’Golo Kante
surviving a penalty-box handball appeal shortly after.
Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel then raced out boldly to
prevent Aaron Ramsey reaching Ozil’s pass and within seconds Vardy had
forced Petr Cech to save with a downward header at the other end.
It proved the pattern of the first half. Arsenal attacked — Wes
Morgan blocking from Olivier Giroud and Sanchez, Giroud twice heading
off-target at corners — and Leicester countered, Kante obliging Cech to
claw the ball away from his top-left corner with a curling shot.
As half-time drew Leicester went ahead, Vardy luring Nacho Monreal
into a challenge and then tumbling to the ground before picking himself
up and slotting his 19th goal of the season past Cech.
The Leicester end erupted. Arsenal’s fans, convinced that referee
Martin Atkinson had been hoodwinked by Vardy, booed the officials off at
the interval.
There was a further blow for the hosts at half-time as Laurent
Koscielny was forced off with a dead leg, which brought Calum Chambers
into the fray.
Arsenal might have conceded another penalty when Riyad Mahrez threw
himself to the deck after being nicked by Monreal, but referee Atkinson
shook hs head.
Instead, after Ramsey had drilled wide and Giroud had headed another
chance over, their luck changed when Simpson was shown a second yellow
card for tugging Giroud back, five minutes after his first for tripping
Sanchez.
The two managers rearranged their teams for the final half hour,
Ranieri sending on Marcin Wasilewski and Demarai Gray in place of Mahrez
and Shinji Okazaki, Wenger throwing on Walcott for Francis Coquelin.
It was the Arsenal change that was to prove telling, Walcott
equalising nine minutes after coming on by side-footing home after
Giroud masterfully nodded Hector Bellerin’s cross into his path.
It was Arsenal’s first shot on target and their attempts to register another proved fraught.
Mertesacker glanced a header just wide and Schmeichel pulled off a
pair of brilliant one-handed saves to thwart Giroud and Sanchez.
But with full-time beckoning, Welbeck rushed in to meet Ozil’s
free-kick with an unerring downward header, eclipsing Leicester’s
fairytale with one of his own.AFP

More than 1,500 Niger Delta militants on Sunday expressed their
desire to embrace amnesty and surrender arms to the Federal Government.
Their decision followed the intervention of the Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
They, however, warned that their willingness to surrender arms should
not be seen as an act of cowardice but an act of patriotism.
The militants’ resolution was contained in a statement in Abuja by
their leaders, O.C. Babaeere and America Tekeiminikpoba, on behalf of
other Commanders from Arepo, Ikorodu, Abule,
Fatorla, Ibafo, Magboro, Epe, Itokin, Ilepete, Okenekene, Agric, Gbokoda
camps, Camp 5 and environs.
The militants expressed their desire to surrender arms and embrace
the amnesty programme so long as the government remained sincere.
While premising their action on the peaceful approach of Kachikwu,
the militants declared that all NNPC facilities and their subsidiaries
must work for the betterment of Nigeria and the economic efficiency in
the face of dwindling oil prices.
“We also agree that all NNPC facilities and its subsidiaries must
work for the betterment of Nigeria and the economic efficiency in the
face of dwindling oil pricesa,” the statement said.
“However, our willingness to surrender should not be seen as an act of cowardice, rather, as an act of patriotism.”

Fraudulent federal civil servants may have defrauded the Federal Government of more than N5bn annually, estimates made us have shown.

The minimum wage of a government worker
is N18,000. This means that a worker earns a basic salary of N216,000
annually, excluding allowances.

The Federal Government has concluded
plans to probe no fewer than 23,306 federal civil servants accused by an
investigative panel of defrauding the government through organised
salary frauds.

This means that the 23,306, if they earn
the minimum wage of N18,000, may be defrauding their employers of about
N419,508,000 monthly and N5,034,096,000 annually.

The government may have lost more than
N5bn to salary frauds as senior officials, who earn much more than the
minimum wage, are said to be involved in the scam.

The Senate had on Thursday declared its
support for the move by the Ministry of Finance to prosecute civil
servants found culpable in the payment of salaries and remuneration to
the ghost workers over the years.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on
Finance, Senator John Enoh, who said this at a budget defence session
with the Ministry of Finance, asked the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi
Adeosun, to ensure the immediate prosecution of the suspects being
accused of alleged involvement in the scam.

Adeosun had disclosed that the discovery
of the ghost workers was due to the registration of over 320,000
workers on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System
platform using their Bank Verification Numbers.

She said, “What the IPPIS-BVN
registration has shown us has been a real revelation, we have identified
that there are people who appear on our payroll multiple times. The BVN
links all the accounts of that person, so we are seeing in our payroll
20 names to one BVN number.

“We have had a meeting on how we are
going to clean them off. The process will be that we will suspend that
person from the payroll pending the investigation. We will try as much
as possible to conclude that investigation within 30 days so that
innocent people do not suffer. But we really need to clean our payroll.”

An investigative committee had been set
up to probe the alleged fraudulent payment of salaries to either ‘ghost’
workers or payments to multiple accounts created by the suspects in
connivance with some banks.

reported on
February 5 that the preliminary report of the panel indicated that some
banks would also be called to answer questions on the huge scam.

Over 300 accounts were said to have been opened in one of the banks in one day, while all the accounts had become inactive.

It was gathered that out of 312,000
civil servants, whose bank accounts had been checked so far in the
exercise through the Bank Verification Number platform, the accounts of
23,306 workers had questionable transactions.

The exercise was said to have led to the discovery of a high level of irregularities in salary payment.

Kim Kardashian and Lil Kim both shared same photo they took together
during the #yeazyseason3 show, on IG. The rapper's version was however
lighter. Some of her fans were quick to point out the difference between
both photos and felt Lil Kim doesn't love herself. See her own pic
after the cut...

@tia_ingrid wrote: Why does Lil Kim use that hideous filter?! They look like porcelain dolls1
@asapwoo5: I wish you would love yourself no need to lighten all your pics. You re brown. We love you brown.

Senate President Bukola Saraki has made
fresh moves to reach out to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National
Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, following
the Supreme Court judgment on his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The Supreme Court had on February 5
ruled that Saraki’s trial should continue at the CCT. The apex court had
affirmed the propriety of Saraki’s trial at the CCT on 13 counts of
false asset declaration.

In the 13 counts initiated by the
Federal Government, Saraki was said to have made false asset declaration
in his forms at the Code of Conduct Bureau as a two-term governor of
Kwara State.

The CCT had on Friday said Saraki’s trial would resume on March 10.

It was reliably gathered that since February 5, Saraki had been making moves to indirectly reach out to Buhari and Tinubu.

A top government source,said Saraki could not reach out directly to Buhari on the matter because he knew the President’s disposition to such issues.

The source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, added that the Senate President resorted to sending
emissaries to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo when Buhari was on a six-day
vacation and Osinbajo was the acting President.

The delegation was reportedly led by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.

The source said the Vice-President made his position and that of the President clear to Saraki’s emissaries.

He said, “Saraki knows the kind of person the President is and I think he won’t approach him directly on this matter.

“But yes, I can tell you that he is reaching out indirectly.

“He sent emissaries to meet with the
Vice-President when the President was on vacation and the Vice-President
was on the chair in acting capacity.

“The emissaries had met with the Vice-President under the cover of the developments about the 2016 budget.

“In the process, they put the issue of Saraki forward.

“Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, however,
made it equivocally clear to them that the two issues could not be
mixed. He told them that the issue of the budget was different from the
trial of Saraki.”

Ndume had on Tuesday led some of his
colleagues, including Dino Melaye, Abdullahi Adamu and Monsurat Sumonu
to meet Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

At the end of the closed-door session,
Ndume told State House correspondents that the meeting reviewed some
developments in the polity, including the issue of the 2016 budget
currently before the National Assembly.

While saying that it would not be a new
thing if people read meanings into their visit, Ndume had claimed that
his delegation did not discuss Saraki’s travails with the
Vice-President.

He was however quick to rise in support
of the Senate President when his opinion was sought on the calls by his
colleagues in the Unity Forum that Saraki should resign.

“Are you saying that the Senate
President should be convicted before the trial? In our constitution, you
are considered innocent until proven guilty,” he had said.

For Tinubu, it was gathered that Saraki
had reached out to not less than 10 opinion leaders and clerics to visit
the APC leader at his home in Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Saraki and Tinubu fell out in June last
year when he defied the directive of the APC and became the Senate
President under controversial circumstances.

The Senate President further ensured that Tinubu’s preferred candidates were denied principal offices at the Senate.

The former governor of Lagos State
subsequently broke all communication with Saraki, describing him in an
open letter as an ‘indisciplined and disloyal man who is a member of the
Peoples Democratic Party in soul.’

Another reliable source told one of our correspondents that Tinubu was not interested in Saraki’s latest peace moves.

He said, “Access from Saraki’s camp has
been blocked. Tinubu has been disappointed in every way. It was the
party that picked Ahmed Lawan. He was not Tinubu’s initial candidate but
he did it all the same.

“So, he has decided to (wash his) hands and will not say a word again regarding Saraki.

“Efforts have intensified since Saraki’s
recent CCT trouble but Tinubu has been out of the country. He has been
in Guinea for the last five days.

“We have been informed that Saraki is
working with a team of people in Ilorin that will storm Lagos. Top
leaders there including Muslim clerics are being put together to visit
Lagos and mediate on his behalf but Tinubu is not interested.”

He added, “There is no deal to be made
anymore. Saraki never conceded anything. He did not give any of our
people any principal position. He then went ahead to increase the number
of Senate committees by fiat just to placate those that have been
following him to court.

“Every concession was denied. The
approval of ministers had nothing to do with Tinubu. It was purely
between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Tinubu has moved on. He has been visiting African countries, supporting other democracies in West Africa.”

“Saraki should go and get good lawyers.
As you can see, attempts to remove the CCT chairman did not work.
Attempts to stop the trial at the Supreme Court have also failed.”

All attempts to reach the spokesperson
for Tinubu, Mr. Sunday Dare, proved abortive as he did not respond to
repeated telephone calls.

Saraki meets Buhari regularly — Aide

When contacted, the Special Adviser to
the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuf Olaniyonu, said
on Saturday that his principal had been having regular meetings with the
President in recent times on national issues.

Olaniyonu, who spoke with one of our
correspondents on telephone cited the most recent when both leaders
jointly hosted the German President at the Aso Rock villa on Thursday
night.

Saraki’s spokesperson however, said the regular parleys between Saraki and Buhari were purely on issues of national interest.

He said, “These two gentlemen hold two
critical arms of government and they need to meet regularly to discuss
issues of national importance.

“The issue of budget is there,
insurgency and the economy generally. How can anybody think the Senate
President will be seeking audience with the President on the issue of
the CCT when there are serious national issues calling for attention?”

When asked if Saraki would reach out to the President, Olaniyonu said, “No comment.”

Before his recent moves to reach out to
the President and Tinubu, Saraki had been facing renewed opposition from
the Senate Unity Forum led by Senator Ahmed Lawan.

Lawan was supported for the senate
presidency by the APC leaders and some party senators, while Saraki got
the backing of all Peoples Democratic Party senators and some APC
senators to emerge as senate president last year. Last week, the Lawan
faction regrouped in a bid to force Saraki to resign.

Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson, has been sworn in for a second term as Governor of the state. The ceremony which is currently holding at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, has many PDP chieftains in attendance. See more photos after the cut...

Zuena from Uganda shared these before and after photos of her daughter, Beata. She is beautiful with or without the hair and she gave pretty strong reasons for wanting her hair chopped.

"My princess has been begging me to cut off her hair for the last 4 days,i told her to call her dad & grandmother thinking that they'll both refuse & that topic will be closed,they instead threw the ball back at me & told her as long as am ok with it. I told her to give me strong reasons to support her decision & this is what she had to say:

1.Her scalp always hurts when she's being plaited.

2.She's always swimming

3.Mbu she wants to save time lol.

So i braced myself & made the tough decision to finally cut it off. Ladies & gentlemen i present to you princess Beata

President Muhammadu Buhari has extolled the virtues of Hajiya Fati Koko,
popularly called Maitalla Tara, who has passed away, aged 95.
Mourning Hajiya Koko, who had waited nine hours in Kebbi early last
year, to donate the sum of N1 million (One million Naira) to him as the
then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
President Buhari described her as "a woman with a good heart, who stood
by her convictions, and gave sacrificially."
Hajiya Koko had offered virtually her life's savings
to candidate Buhari then, saying she admired his honesty, discipline,
and stand for truth.
Receiving the news of her passage, President Buhari commended Hayiya
Koko's conviction and sacrificial giving, urging Nigerians to learn
vital lessons from her life.
"She gave practically all she had towards our campaign. Though well
advanced in age, she still believed a new Nigeria was possible, and
followed her conviction with action. What generosity of spirit and what
tenacious faith in her motherland. Nigerians, old and young, have a lot
to learn from her," the President said.
President Buhari condoled with the family and relations of the departed,
urging them to take solace in the fact that their matriarch lived to a
ripe old age, "and she saw the beginning of the change she had long
yearned for. The onus is now on all of us to ensure that the change gets
entrenched and solidified for even generations yet unborn to benefit
from."
The President also sympathized with the governor and people of Kebbi
State, whom he said will all miss the sterling qualities of Hajiya Koko,
but added that the life of the departed will serve as a standard to
emulate "in the service of God, humanity and country."
"May Allah grant her soul repose in Al-jannah," the President prayed.

Governor Wike Nyesom of Rivers state, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state and
Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state are currently in Bayelsa state for the
inauguration of Governor Seriake Dickson for a second term. See more
photos after the cut...